( This is a quote by James S Stewart taken from a sermon by Alistair Begg)
Redemptive work is always costly. There is no hope of ease for the faithful servant of the cross. It is involved in the very nature of his task that he can never be at the end of it. Not his to evade the burden and the heat of the day. Physical weariness, sickness of heart, bitter disappointment, the strain of the passion of souls, all the wear and tear of vicarious burden bearing; these he will know in full measure. He may even find himself wondering sometimes why he ever accepted a commission in a warfare in which there is no discharge. He may even have moods when a haunting sense of anticlimax overwhelms him. It’s one thing to set out gallantly when the flags are waving and drums summoning to a new crusade. But it’s quite another thing to keep plodding on when the road is difficult and the initial impetus has spent its force and the trumpets of the dawn have ceased to blow. It’s one thing to have inspirations – another to have tenacity…
If ever a man finds the work of the ministry becoming easily manageable and surmountable ; an undemanding vocation without strain or any encumbering load of care, he is to be pitied, not congratulated. For he has so flagrantly lost touch with one whose ministry of reconciliation could be accomplished and fulfilled through Gethsemane and Calvary. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins… unless something of the pastor’s lifeblood goes into his quest for souls and into the word he brings them from the Lord, the quest remains fruitless and the word devoid of delivering power.
James S. Stewart
